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Magnetic reconnection is a powerful energy-conversion process that operates anywhere in the universe where there is a magnetized plasma. Results of magnetic reconnection can be spectacular and also harmful to technological systems and humans as they include auroras, geomagnetic storms, solar and stellar flares, beams of energetic particles and radio bursts. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of magnetic reconnection and relevant processes in space plasmas based on recent spacecraft observations and theoretical simulations and discusses its astrophysical context.
The book reviews the advancements of our understanding of magnetic reconnection in geospace realized by the recent unprecedentedly high temporal resolution measurements from MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission) and numerical simulations. The chapters review new discoveries on dynamics of reconnection at the smallest scales, down to the electron kinetic scale, on the diverse roles of waves and turbulence in magnetic reconnection, as well as new insights into the macroscale consequences of reconnection.
The book also provides broad context of magnetic reconnection not only in geospace, but also in different environments throughout the solar system and astrophysical plasmas, and in laboratory plasmas. Readers will find both up-to-date results of the dynamic research field and tutorial articles including the various methods of the spacecraft data analysis and simulation models.
Reprinted from the journal Space Science Reviews, Topical Collection: Magnetic Reconnection: Explosive Energy Conversion in Space Plasmas, 2025
List of contents
Magnetic Reconnection: Explosive Energy Conversion in Space Plasmas – Editorial.- Magnetic Reconnection in Space: An Introduction.- Structure of the Electron Diffusion Region During Magnetic Reconnection.- Ohm’s Law, the Reconnection Rate, and Energy Conversion in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection.- Electron and Ion Dynamics in Reconnection Diffusion Regions.- The Role of Kinetic Instabilities and Waves in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection.- The Interplay Between Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence.- Global-Scale Processes and Effects of Magnetic Reconnection on the Geospace Environment.- Cross-Scale Processes of Magnetic Reconnection.- Particle Acceleration by Magnetic Reconnection in Geospace.- Magnetic Reconnection in Solar Flares and the Near-Sun Solar Wind.- Magnetic Reconnection at Planetary Bodies and Astrospheres.- Magnetic Reconnection and Associated Particle Acceleration in High-Energy Astrophysics.- Laboratory Study of Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection.- Advanced Methods for Analyzing in-Situ Observations of Magnetic Reconnection.- Simulation Models for Exploring Magnetic Reconnection.- Outstanding Questions and Future Research on Magnetic Reconnection.
About the author
Dr. Rumi Nakamura is a group leader at the Space Research Institute (IWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences and Dozent (Lecturer) at University of Graz. Her research interests are plasma transport and acceleration in the magnetosphere, magnetic reconnection, substorm and storm dynamics. She received her doctorate degrees in geophysics from University of Tokyo. She is involved in several space plasma physics missions such as Cluster, DoubleStar, THEMIS as a Co-Investigator and in Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission leading the Active Spacecraft Potential Control (ASPOC) instrument. She was awarded the Tanakadate Award from the Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS) and the Julius-Bartels Medal from the European Geosciences Union (EGU). She is a Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU) and a Member of Austrian Academy of Sciences, International Academy of Astronautics, Academia Europaea and European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Dr. Burch is an experimental space plasma physicist specializing in dynamical phenomena associated with the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetospheres of Earth, Saturn and comets. He received his PhD degree from Rice University. He was Principal Investigator of the NASA IMAGE mission, which was the first mission to conduct comprehensive multi-spectral imaging of the Earth's magnetosphere. He served as Principal Investigaor of the Ion and Electron Sensor for the European Space Agency Rosetta Comet Mission. His current research involves analysis of data from the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, for which he serves as Science Principal Investigator. For MMS he designed a new generation plasma composition analyzer that greatly improves the accuracy of minor ion detection in space plasmas. With MMS data Dr. Burch has reported the first electron-scale measurements of magnetic reconnection in space, which have led to many transformational science results on reconnection by him and the many members of the MMS team. He currently is principal investigator for the Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration (MASPEX) for the NASA Europa Clipper Mission.
Dr. Burch is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and is a recipient of the AGU Fleming Medal and Bowie Medal as well as the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.
Summary
Magnetic reconnection is a powerful energy-conversion process that operates anywhere in the universe where there is a magnetized plasma. Results of magnetic reconnection can be spectacular and also harmful to technological systems and humans as they include auroras, geomagnetic storms, solar and stellar flares, beams of energetic particles and radio bursts. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of magnetic reconnection and relevant processes in space plasmas based on recent spacecraft observations and theoretical simulations and discusses its astrophysical context.
The book reviews the advancements of our understanding of magnetic reconnection in geospace realized by the recent unprecedentedly high temporal resolution measurements from MMS (Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission) and numerical simulations. The chapters review new discoveries on dynamics of reconnection at the smallest scales, down to the electron kinetic scale, on the diverse roles of waves and turbulence in magnetic reconnection, as well as new insights into the macroscale consequences of reconnection.
The book also provides broad context of magnetic reconnection not only in geospace, but also in different environments throughout the solar system and astrophysical plasmas, and in laboratory plasmas. Readers will find both up-to-date results of the dynamic research field and tutorial articles including the various methods of the spacecraft data analysis and simulation models.
Reprinted from the journal Space Science Reviews, Topical Collection: Magnetic Reconnection: Explosive Energy Conversion in Space Plasmas, 2025
